Tag Archives: Health Insurance

Ever since President Donald Trump won the White House, Democrats, interest groups, and even some Republicans have argued that rolling back Obamacare would harm the health of millions. But a new study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests Obama’s healthcare law does little to actually improve patient’s health outcomes.

The research shows that while Obamacare expanded patient access to doctors, nurses, and hospitals, it’s provided little-to-no actual health benefits. The authors analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an annual medical survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. After two years of observations, survey respondents reported they enjoyed greater access to health insurance, primary care, and routine check-ups. Yet the authors observed almost zero overall improvement in physical health after the patients got covered by Obamacare.

Other studies have come to similar conclusions. After Oregon expanded their Medicaid program through a lottery in 2008, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology compared the health of individuals selected to enroll in Medicaid versus those who remained uninsured. After two years, they observed Medicaid recipients visited the doctor more, utilized more preventive care, and consumed more prescription drugs. But they saw no improvement in blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood sugar relative to the uninsured. Medicaid enrollees even visited the emergency room more frequently.

Telemedicine is projected to exponentially grow through 2020, according to a recent report from Jackson Healthcare. But only if local governments allow it. Fortunately, New Jersey has begun to embrace telehealth services, though not without caveats.

The New Jersey Senate’s health committee unanimously approved a bipartisan bill late last month that would allow the growth of telemedicine, that is, the use of technology to provide healthcare remotely. According to the American Telemedicine Association, while New Jersey residents already use telemedicine, the state has no laws specific to the service. The legislation would rectify this and expand telemedicine’s use by laying the framework for how it must be practiced and compensated. The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee will be next to review the bill, and they need to keep the parts of the bill that will make telemedicine accessible while amending the bill to take advantage of the service’s other promise: affordability.

The bill would allow patients to establish relationships with doctors remotely, eliminating the need for an in-person examination under most circumstances. The major exception would be when doctors need to prescribe “controlled dangerous substances”.

Further, the bill defines the originating site in comprehensive enough terms for patients to use telemedicine in home settings. That’s a big deal since some states such as Arkansas narrowly define the “originating site” and limit patients to receiving telemedicine in a healthcare setting.

Editor Casey Given was published in TheBlaze on Medicaid’s coverage gap under the Affordable Care Act.

As Obamacare cheerleaders continue their victory lap after last month’s exchange deadline, many are now turning their attention to states that have not yet expanded Medicaid.

The Orlando Weekly published an article this week tracing the ordeal of Charlene Dill, a Florida woman who died without health insurance because she fell into Obamacare’s so-called “coverage gap” — earning too little to enroll in Medicaid but too much to qualify for exchange subsidies.

The article condemned Florida Republicans for failing to expand Medicaid as offered under Obamacare. However, a closer look at the broken program surprisingly suggests that the Sunshine State — and the 24 others that haven’t expanded the program so far — may have made the more humane decision.